Harry Turtledove
Harry Turtledove was born in Los Angeles, California in 1949.
He attended UCLA where he received a Ph.D. in Byzantine history in 1977.
In 1979, he published his first two novels, Wereblood and Werenight under the pseudonym Eric G. Iverson and continued
to use it until 1985.
In 1991, he left the Los Angeles County Office of Education, where he worked as a technical writer,
and became a full-time writer. He won
the Hugo Award for Novella in 1994 for "Down in the Bottomlands" and
"Must and Shall" was nominated for both the 1996 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and
the 1996 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

Departures is a reprint anthology in two ways.
First, all 20 stories have previously been published and second, the book itself
first appeared in 1993 and is now being reprinted with a new (and better) cover. In fact, the
cover and copyright pages are the only things which have changes from the first edition.
Even the excerpt from The Guns of the South, which appears at the end, announces
that the book will be coming to paperback in October 1993 (although I am told this will be
changed in future printings).

The first short story Harry Turtledove published, back in 1980 in Universe 10,
was a satirical piece called "Report of the Special Committee on the Quality of
Life." This story was written as a bureaucratic study and explained why Christopher
Columbus' proposed journey to find a Western passage to China was impracticable. Although
short and not particularly memorable, this story does show evidence of the wit and humour
which appears, to various degrees of subtlety, in many of Turtledove's later works.

But this was not the first
story Turtledove sold. Previously, he had sold the short story "Death in
Vesunna" co-written, as Turtledove tells us, with his now ex-wife, Elaine O'Byrne.
While both stories have an historical basis, "Death in Vesunna" would have been
a more appropriate story for the beginning of Turtledove's career. It is a mystery in which a
Roman is killed by a handgun brought from the future. The question is whether the local
authorities can figure out what happened before Turtledove's time travelers can escape
back to their own time. It combines Turtledove's love for
anachronistic weapons with his knowledge of history, and the story is one of the
stand-outs in this collection.

The title story is one of the more traditional alternate histories to appear in the
book. Although it is not included in Agent of Byzantium, it does set up that
entire story sequence by making Mohammed a monk gifted with the ability to write beautiful
hymns. Although the story only begins to look at the results of such a world, the effects
can be seen in "Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire," the last of the Basil Argyros
stories in which Turtledove's spy visits the Great Library of Alexandria. If you haven't
read Agent of Byzantium, this story is a good example of what's there.

As Turtledove points out, his story "Islands in the Sea" views the flip side
of the coin that makes up the Basil Argyros stories. It is based on an
historical event known as the Khazar polemic. In Turtledove's version, the Bulgars are
trying to decide between Christianity and Islam. He further changes the historical
polemic by having Constantinople fall to the Muslims in the first wave of Islamic
expansion.

One of the tools of archaeology is the examination of the remnants of pottery. In
"Counting Potsherds," Turtledove uses this technique to reveal not what
actually happened, but what failed to happen in his world. This is a very effective way of
explaining the point of divergence in an alternate history story, as well as give the
reader some insight into the study of archaeology.

Although originally known for his alternate takes on Roman and Greek civilization, more
recently Turtledove has become known for his examination of the American Civil War. This
trend began with The Guns of the South, and has continued through How Few Remain
and the Nebula nominated "Must and Shall." "The Last Reunion" grew
from the same research which produced The Guns of the South, and is an examination
of a reunion of Civil War vets and the memories it instilled.

After the Civil War, a World War II in which Nazi Germany is victorious is the most
popular alternate history scenario of choice. In "In the Presence of Mine Enemies," the Nazis have
won the war and, they believe, exterminated all of Europe's Jews. This story tells
of the difficulty involved in committing total genocide, and what happens if the exercise
is not a complete success.

Although many of the stories in the collection fall under the "Stories of
Alternate History" cover rubric, not all of them are.
"The R Strain" is a tale of the consequences of genetic
engineering: specifically, it asks whether a pig genetically engineered to chew its cud is
thereby made kosher according to the biblical definition. The 1993 introduction to the
story comments that a relative to the
pig, the babirusa, does chew its cud. Unfortunately, the introduction has not been updated to
reflect the fact that the babirusa does not, in fact, chew its cud.

Other straight science fiction stories include "Lure," a time-traveling
palaeography story which is the set up for one of the puns for which Turtledove is known,
and "Secret Names," which explores the idea that knowing the true name of an
object grants a person power over the object. The latter becomes science fiction rather
than fantasy by being set in a post-apocalyptic age.

Turtledove includes three sports stories. "Les Mortes d'Arthur" is a ski jump
mystery story set on Saturn's moon, Mimas. "Designated Hitter," a story named for
one of the most insidious rules in baseball, looks at the miraculous achievements of a DH
on a softball team and what it may mean for the future of humanity. "Batboy,"
takes the job title literally as one of Turtledove's few forays into vampire fiction.

"Not All Wolves" looks at another traditional monster from the werewolf's
point of view. Just as "Not All Wolves" is set in the Middle Ages,
"Clash of Arms," as the name suggests, takes place at a medieval tournament,
although the clash of arms of the title is not traditional jousting, but a contest to
recognize heraldic images.

Many of the stories in Departures are linked to other works by Turtledove. As
mentioned, two of the stories are tied to the world of Agent of Byzantium. Some
stories come from the research Turtledove did for the "Worldwar" series, or The
Guns of the South. "Nasty, Brutish, And..." is set in the same universe
as his fix-up novel, Earthgrip. The story holds particular interest because it
introduces one of the races in Earthgrip, the Foitani, but does not
include the novel's protagonist, Jennifer Logan, consequently providing a different
view of the rather unpleasant aliens.

The short story "Gladly Wolde He Lerne" seems to be something of a
wish-fulfillment story. Not for the characters in the story, but for the author and anyone
who has been in academia. The story is fairly obvious, but still manages to work well.

One of the few stories in Departures which does not particularly work is the
humourous "The Barbecue, The Movie, And Other Unfortunately Not So Relevant
Material" about T.G. Kahn, whose father's sense of humour resulted in a
20th-century man having a name similar to that of a world-conqueror. Normally only
having to deal with practical jokers, Kahn now faces the challenge of a time traveler who
is in search of his famous namesake.

"Last Favor" begins with a variation on Star Trek's prime directive
(which Turtledove has used in his novel Noninterference), and plays with ways to
circumvent the proscription against interfering in local affairs. In this case, the problem centres around the
obvious (to humans) oppression of one race by another, although the oppressed race does
not seem to oppose their treatment. "Last Favor" stands out because it is the
most atypical Harry Turtledove story in the collection.

Despite its alternate history billing, Departures shows
Turtledove's versatility as well as his knowledge of history. For readers who have
not read any of Turtledove's works, I recommend beginning with Departures (or the
currently out-of-print Kaleidoscope) to get a feel for the wide range of stories
this author has to offer. For people who only know Turtledove through his novel (and
multi-novel) length works, I recommend this to show how masterful he is when it comes to
writing short stories.

ContentsCounting Potsherds
Designated Hitter
Death in Vesunna (with Elaine O'Byrne)
Gladly Wolde He Lerne
Departures
The Barbecue, the Movie, and Other Unfortunately Not So Relevant Material
Islands in the Sea
In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Not All Wolves
The R Strain
Clash of Arms
Lure
Pillar of Cloud, Pillar of Fire
Secret Names
Report of the Special Committee on the Quality of Life
Les Mortes d'Arthur
Batboy
Last Favor
The Last Reunion
Nasty, Brutish, and...

Steven H. Silver is one of the founders and judges for the Sidewise Award
for Alternate History. He sits on concoms for Windycon, Chicon 2000, and
Clavius in 2001, and is co-chair of Picnicon 1998. Steven will be
serving as the Programming Chairman for Chicon 2000. In addition to
maintaining several bibliographies and the Harry Turtledove website,
Steven is trying to get his short stories published and has recently
finished his first novel. He lives at home with his wife and 3200
books. He is available for convention panels.